Cas didn't exactly know how to drop this bomb on his... boyfriend. Which in and of itself was something that he was still coming to terms with. The idea that he was allowed to hold Dean's hand- or if they weren't in public, kiss him. He was over the moon and completely and utterly confused.

It didn't help that apparently he now had to inform Dean that they would be having a child live with them. His child. Cas rocked the baby in his arms automatically, still completely wide eyed about this beautiful little girl with blue eyes and a strong grip when she wanted to hold his fingers. He had loved her mother. And from the moment he met this baby girl's eyes he knew he would love their daughter too.

As it was she sucked idly on the end of his finger, content to put anything she could reach into her mouth. Knocking quietly on the door way, he cleared his throat for added emphasis.

Dean was used to Cas coming up with some weird shit. It was part of him being an angel. Like when he'd sat there watching porn in a roomful of dudes and talking about it. But this was different, this was...

"Cas," Dean said, blinking several times as if the (okay, adorable, really freaking adorable) baby in his arms as if maybe he was imagining it. The baby kept cooing, tiny fingers flexing. One very real baby. He opened his mouth, closed it, and tried again. This time, words came out. "Cas, uh. What. The. Fuck?"

Castiel sighed as he walked further into the room, moving to take a seat beside Dean where the hunter could inspect the little girl more easily. She made some noises and squinted at him before flinging her arms in what could be distress, amusement, exhaustion, energy- any number of things Cas was not prepared for. He even felt her tiny wings struggling underneath her feebly.

He stroked her small tuft of hair back out of her face with a soft smile. "When I was Emmanuel- I was married, as you may recall. I was... uncertain how to speak to Daphne again after I knew who I was- and by the time I could find the words, I couldn't find her." Hearing the beginnings of a wail in Serafina's babbling, he shifted her automatically.

Though her wiggling made it much more difficult than necessary. "As it turns out, that is because she was pregnant when I got my memories back. The child of an angel and a human is a nephilim- they are much more powerful than the angelic parent or the human one. As such- when born, their mother will always pass away. No exceptions." Castiel's voice dropped in volume as pain crept into his body language.

Which he was distinctly aware of when Sera started sobbing in earnest. Standing up again he explained the final comment quickly. "I am the only parent she has Dean." Before starting to bounce his baby girl slightly. "So. Dean, this is my daughter, Serafina. Serafina this is your father's-" he hesitated only slightly on the word, though his cheeks coloured slightly. "-boyfriend, Dean."

Dean froze at the mention of Emmanuel. Sure, it made sense, but the mixed pain and joy of finding Cas alive after so much time but not himself still fresh. It had been nearly the last thing that had happened between them before Purgatory.

But this, this took surprise kid from another relationship to new levels. The fact Cas hadn't been himself when he'd fathered her but now he was her only parent and oh, yeah, the baby was a fucking nephilim.

None of that mattered. Dean reached out as soon as the baby started fussing.

Dean froze at the mention of Emmanuel. Sure, it made sense, but the mixed pain and joy of finding Cas alive after so much time but not himself still fresh. It had been nearly the last thing that had happened between them before Purgatory.

But this, this took surprise kid from another relationship to new levels. The fact Cas hadn't been himself when he'd fathered her but now he was her only parent and oh, yeah, the baby was a fucking nephilim.

None of that mattered. Dean reached out as soon as the baby started fussing.

It was notably less fresh for Cas, it had been years since it had happened. The pain of remembering all over again, who he had been, the woman he had loved- and then the shock of remembering who he was, and the man he would die for-

It was confusing to say the least. In the now, he had had time to reflect on it, and it was no simpler to understand. Because Emmanuel was him, at his very core, without any of the worries or guilt he carried, but he wasn't Emmanuel. Not anymore.

He gave a small shake of his head to Dean, rocking Sera back and forth. One hand holding her head up, and another holding her bottom, fingers ending just below her little nearly featherless wings. "It's okay Dean, I can handle this. It's not the first time I've held a crying baby." Wrapping his own wings around them, the shadows gathered until his wings were actually visible, black feathers the colour of ink shaded with just the tiniest hint of impossibility. "Look at what's happening to me. I can't believe it myself." The angel began to croon, rather uncharacteristically, though the song was rather appropriate. Sera immediately started to quite down.

Cas glanced over at Dean, a small smile curling his lips as he sang the next words to his child and beloved. "Suddenly I'm up on top of the world..." He paused, not wanting to claim it shouldn't have happened to him. These two were some of the most precious things he had ever known, and he wouldn't trade them for anything. Instead he hummed the next few notes before continuing, as Sera's sobs stopped and turned to little hiccups. "Believe it or not, I'm walking on air. I never thought I would feel so free-ee-ee. Flying away on a-" He shrugged his wings slightly as Sera's tears finished rolling and she started giggling slightly. "Wing and a prayer. Who could it be? Believe it or not it's just me."

The angel finished his song and dipped the little girl back carefully before blowing a raspberry on her cheek. Standing back up, her smile was as big as it could be, gums proud and visible. Smiling softly, he wiped the tear tracks off her face and kissed her forehead. He walked over and turned her around to offer her to Dean, wings curling back into his back. "Would you like to hold her Dean? You just need to be careful of her wings." He carefully indicated the area of her shoulder blades where the invisible appendages were attached, though pressure against it was not the worst thing.

"It's not--?" Dean said, because it was hard to imagine Cas even going near a baby, let along holding one. He wondered, not for the first time, what the fuck had happened in the two years that separated them. And then Cas started singing, and it was all he could do to stare. The emotion pushing up through his chest was...weird, like he was seeing something he'd always wanted but never known he'd wanted and now somehow he had it.

Nope, wasn't gonna touch that one.

Cas offered him the baby, who was smiling--which was a little weird, for a newborn, but who knew with angel babies--and he took her gently in his arms. That strange emotion seemed to expand, and he found himself smiling down at the little girl, rocking her like he'd learned to with Lisa's niece (for all that seemed like half a lifetime ago, it came back so easily).

"She's beautiful," he murmured, bouncing slightly and smiling as she cooed. Then he looked up at Cas. "You've got diapers? Wipes? Formula? Bottles? Where is she sleeping, I mean, tell me there's a crib here. Not that I don't think you know how to take care of a baby, but, uh, you do know how to take care of a baby?"

Cas was hovering. He felt not unlike a hummingbird, trying to be in all possible places at once, and going faster than should be possible. He shouldn't feel like he had to hover- and it was Dean- but no matter how rapidly his daughter was learning, she was still so little.

And... he wanted Dean and Sera to like each other. History suggested they probably would- the future version of his daughter more or less confirming that- but Cas was so very uncertain. This was new ground for to him, and he didn't know what to do if they didn't like each other.

He quietly weathered Dean's questions until they slowed to allow a reply. "Yes I have diapers, wipes, cream, clothes, changing pad, diaper bag, a crib, swaddling blankets- and of course, formula and bottles. Though I will have to get more- all of these things were prepared by Daphne since she..." He sighed, watching as Sera's smile vanished at the mention of her mother. "Since she was unaware that she would die in childbirth. There is very little formula, and I will want more bottles, because Daphne had planned on breastfeeding."

He reached out, stroking his daughter's cheek for a second before she grasped it and wiggled again. After a moment of struggling she gave a yawn that was terribly big for such a tiny body. "She is beautiful, isn't She?" He added quietly, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead.

Dean smiles slightly as Cas edged around him, his eyes on Sera, as if the little baby in his arms was drawing him in like a magnet. It wasn't like Dean knew a ton of parents, seeing as hunters who had kids usually stopped being hunters. Or, well, they didn't, but he was pretty sure his own childhood wasn't a great example of parenting. But the hovering he understood.

"She's fine," he said softly, bouncing the baby and shifting slightly as she nestled into him. Then he nodded as Cas went through his list. "I can pick up all that stuff for you tonight," he said, then added, thinking aloud, "and I'll have to get a car seat for the Impala, God, Sam is gonna laugh." He felt an odd tug of emotion at the thought that Sam himself had been the last kid to ride in the back of the Impala in a car seat.

He thought, distantly, that he should be more freaked out by this. But the same part of him that had been disappointed--no matter how much he'd never have admitted it to anyone--that Ben hadn't been his kid seemed to have taken over. Not that Sera was his, obviously, she was Cas's daughter with some woman Dean had barely met once, but the idea of having a baby in his life... the idea of Cas having one... it somehow didn't seem so bad. Even after Purgatory. Even with all the fucked up shit he and Cas probably still had to work through. This was okay.

"She's beautiful," he agreed, then leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Cas's lips. "And you got this, okay? Babies are easy, and you're gonna be a great dad."

Cas slowed to a stop at Dean's affirmation. He breathed a sigh out, worry furrowing his brows. "I know. I know, she's just... so little." He whispered quietly, not knowing how to put his fears into words. Even immediately after she had been born, Sera was almost certainly more powerful than he was- Castiel knew that his daughter would be hard to hurt in any way, shape, or form. Despite all of that, he couldn't help but hover.

He just wanted to keep his little girl safe. He wanted to keep this little family of sorts safe.

He smiled at the mention of Sam. "You'll like Sam." He murmured to his daughter. "He's a little bit more than human too." Cas added, thinking back with regret at the times he had called Sam an abomination. At Sera's cousin that Cas had personally killed. He hadn't understood, not until he met this beautiful infant.

She cooed softly in response before yawning again. Her eyes drifted shut within a few seconds of Dean rocking her. Cas smiled at her, turning to look at his boyfriend when he spoke. He kissed back softly, his smile turning shy at the sweet affection before he cleared his throat and told Dean about the other elephant in the room.

"Ah. About that Dean. Serafina was born in the hub- because Serafina came back in time to tell me about herself so." He pushed his hair out of his face, even as he sent a little energy along his link to his grown daughter to join the conversation. " I'd like you to meet my daughter. Serafina." He stated, again, as the teenager entered the room.

@eve @jasmine sorry if I forgot to mention. But there's a reason why the title is pluralized XD lmk if this introduction doesn't work for either of you and I will edit.

Never let it be said that Serafina was a disobedient or disrespectful daughter. Even though this version of her father was a younger, less experienced version of the one she had only just recently left behind in her ‘home’ universe, she had acquiesced to his assertion that he break the news to Dean Winchester in a certain manner.

Dad knew Dean better than anyone, maybe even Sam, so Sera had smiled and nodded and told her to just let her know when to come.

The little jolt of energy was received nearly immediately, and Sera grinned wide and happy before she left the hallway where she had been waiting to open the door to the room where her father and Dean were speaking. It was a lot to drop on the guy, she knew that, but she also knew that Dean had been in her life for as long as she could remember, and considering that today was her younger self’s birthday, well, that was a good bet that this was how things had happened the first time around.

She closed the door behind her before turning to give Dean a shy little wave. It was totally possible that while he might accept baby-her, he wouldn’t necessarily like her-her. She was, after all, a nephilim. An unknown. Powerful, even if she didn’t like to flaunt that fact too much.”Hi, Dean.”

He turned to Cas, his mouth opening and closing. He would have thought... well, anyone else might have MENTIONED the fact that his kid happened to be two places at once, and was both a newborn and a teenager. But to Cas, of course, that was probably just details. Perks of dating a freaking celestial wavelength.

Babies were easy. He'd taken care of a couple babies in his time, and as long as you kept em fed and dry they were happy. But an older kid, that was something different. Dean could fuck up an older kid.

"Cas," he said, trying to keep his voice even because he wasn't going to yell at Cas for this. That was...that was something his own dad probably would've done, if someone had pulled this kind of crap on him. Instead he swallowed, and returned the teenager's wave, not sure exactly how distrubed he should be that she knew his name. "Uh, hi, kid." Then he turned back to Cas. "Well, thanks for the heads up."

Castiel winced at the look on his beloved's face. He knew Dean. He knew how to read Dean's emotions better than Cas knew how to read anyone else's.

It was hard because he felt bad for upsetting Dean- but Cas still felt that he had gone about this the best possible way. He couldn't see introducing the older Sera first going over nearly so well, and at least with a sleeping child in his arms, Dean was unlikely to yell.

Still, Cas's cheeks coloured slightly as his eyes turned down. "I'm sorry Dean. I didn't know how to introduce you to the fact that I had a child, and also that she was fully grown and a baby at the same time. It is, I should think understandably, not something I have ever prepared for."

He smiled at Sera, shortly after, wanting to be clear. "Not that I am upset about the situation. It is just unexpected."

Cas was absolutely terrified under the surface. He so desperately wanted this to go well, yet he was very very out of his depth.

Okay, so Sera had grown up with Dean around. With Dean as much a father to her as her dad was, and she knew what certain specific faces he made meant.

Surprise, sure, that was to be expected, because she was the baby, and she was a teenager, too, and there was no way Dean could have expected that. But this look wasn’t just surprise, it was upset and maybe even anger, and a sense of being lost, and Sera hadn’t seen that look on his face in a very, very long time, not pertaining to her.

Blinking, Sera took a step forward; she could do this, it was Dean, Dean was… Dean. He was family. She was going to say hi to him back, but he turned back to Dad and she frowned at what he said, flinching a little bit at the tone, “It’s my fault. I didn’t really give him much time to deal with any of this…” Please don’t fight, not because of me, please don’t.

Offering her dad a small understanding smile at his reassurance, she nodded just slightly. Yeah, she knew that Castiel at least wasn’t upset, confused, a little bit lost maybe, but not upset. They’d be fine, they’d figure this out. Dean though… Different story. She didn’t want him to hate her. “I’m sorry.”

Dean forced a smile onto his face, trying his best to ignore the undercurrent of oh-shit oh-shit-oh shit that had taken over most of his thoughts. Sera, this older Sera, was still a kid. Want her fault he was freaking the fuck out and that meant he wasn't going to drag her into his mess. This was different than Ben, because Lisa had told him off the bat he wasn't his and it wasn't like they'd been together then anyway. But now he was just going to have to deal.

"It's fine, Cas," he said tightly. "You, uh. Why would you tell me you have a teenage daughter?" That was sarcastic. "I mean. Yeah. Sure. When is a good time." Okay, maybe this wasn't working.

Cas frowned, lines furrowing into his face as he tried to come up with the words to explain this to Dean. To show him how much Sera could be trusted, how bright and kind she was from the tiny period he had known her. How much he wanted to protect her, wanted to protect Dean, wanted them both to be happy.

Cas stepped forward, reaching a hand for Dean's but hesitating, not knowing if the hunter would want him to. "You are the first person outside of Daphne who I have told. And Daphne was time sensitive. I am sorry that I don't know how to go about this, but I only took enough time to make sure Sera of both times was safe- and that Daphne was given a proper farewell." He offered softly, carefully shifting his sleeping daughter over into his own arms.

Stepping away back and trying to give his boyfriend a smile despite how sad he was about Dean's upset, he added on. "I'll go set up Seraphina's crib in 'my' room. I hope you can talk more easily without me here."

Yeah. See, the thing was that Sera had known Dean her whole life, even if he hadn’t met her yet, and she knew when he was fake-smiling! And that was a fake smile all the way. His face did entirely different things when he was really smiling. But that was the thing; she’d made things difficult between them by coming back here. Maybe Castiel would have gone to get her mother on his own. Maybe another angel had told him last time, but that’s not how she remembered the story going. She remembered her older self being here, at least for a long while. This wasn’t how she’d imagined this meeting going down. Not that she’d really imagined something specific, but...not this. Not causing awkwardness and problems between her parents.

Dean’s sarcasm wasn’t unexpected; she knew him, and that was more telling than a fake smile. She let her angelic father speak about her mother and time before she spoke. “It is my fault.” She sighed, looking at Dean and meeting his eyes, “It took me months to figure out what I was supposed to do. I wasn’t alive or even with either of you when my...me, when I did this last time, so I didn’t realize how things happened, and by the time I did…” she gestured toward the baby in Castiel’s arms, “I ended up in the wrong time and messed everything up!” By the time she finished, Sera had tears gleaming in her eyes, her voice wavering just slightly. “We had to hurry to get my… Daphne, and then we had to explain it to her, and… And she was too nice about it… And then we came to Hub and now we’re here.” she mumbled the last sentence.

Slumping, she reached up to scrub angrily at her face with the palms of her hand. “And it’s fine for you to be weirded out, but I really didn’t give Dad all that much time to prepare, let alone come back here and tell you.” She dropped her eyes from his gaze, staring at the floor as though it could help her figure out how to talk to Dean, how to make this better. But Dean was the one she usually went to when she was frustrated. Especially when she was frustrated over human kinds of things. Not having that was, well, it was distressing was what it was!

And then her Dad was retreating from the whole thing, the room, the conversation… Leaving her alone with Dean, who didn’t seem all that happy to see her. Sera made a small sound as Castiel left them, closing her eyes tightly. She could do this. She could. She’d been raised by Dean Winchester and Castiel, angel of the Lord. She looked up, waiting for Dean’s response.

"Okay, Cas," Dean said, feeling the familiar tug of guilt at Cas's obvious discomfort. He wanted to do this right. Cas had put up with so much of Dean's family related shit over the years the least Dean could do was try to deal. "I'll, uh. I'll see you later, I guess."

He wished Cas would stay. Cas being around always made him feel better, little as he'd ever admit it, even to himself most of the time. But, hey, it wasn't like he was going to beg if Cas wanted to go.

And, fuck, her somehow managed to upset Sera too enough to bring the girl to the edge of tears. He was really fucking great at this.

"Hey, whoa, hey," he said, taking her shoulders in his hands."No. You didn't mess anything up, okay? I don't blame you, not that there's even anything to blame you for." He put on his most reassuring smile. "Look, I get freaked when Sam--my brother--changes up the grocery shopping. I mean, kale? Really? New semi-adult family members I didn't know I had? It's gonna take me a minute. That's all."

Cas had fully intended to leave the room. He thought that Dean and Sera might bond over their commonalities if he weren't there to act as the polar opposite of social lubricant. A social resistor perhaps? Either way it was irrelevant. He knew Dean was less than thrilled about his departure, but sometimes it was for the best to leave the hunter to figure things out for himself.

However, when Castiel was hit with the wave of emotion from his daughter, he turned on his heel without pause. She wasn't someone he knew. Not yet. And he wasn't someone she knew. Not anymore. But he was her rather and just as he would give his life to protect the little winged child in his arms, he would protect her older self as much as he could as well.

The only thing that gave him pause was that he wasn't entirely certain how to juggle a baby and still give the older Sera the hug he wanted to. Cas carefully took a moment to adjust baby Sera- who he would henceforth refer to as Serafina and the older version as Sera- and make certain that Serafina was well seated in the crook of his arm before hurrying over.

By the time he had, Dean had Sera somewhat in his arms, and Cas was relieved at the sight. Dean didn't hate his daughter. Either of them. He stepped forward, first slinging his free arm around Sera's shoulders and pulling her in for a small hug before turning to Dean and smiling sadly. He would have whispered had he not known Sera's ears would pick it up regardless.

"It's not all you Dean. This has been a stressful day, and Sera met her mother for the first time. And... subsequently lost her. I am sorry if this meeting could have been planned and executed better- but I think once you two have a chance to get to know each other, you will find she has a lot of Winchester family traits." Cas offered, at first slow- but his tone turned dry at the end. "I am forced to assume you helped greatly in her formative years, as there is no other explanation for her fashion sense, taste in entertainment, and sense of humour."

With a pause he brushed his mind against hers, using the grip he still had on her shoulder to make certain she knew that he didn't dislike those things in the slightest. Castiel was just doing what he could to make Dean intrigued by more than what Sera represented.

Sera wouldn’t pretend that she wanted Castiel to leave. At the same time, Dean was Dean, and Sera adored and trusted him unfailingly. If Cas left, it would be okay.

Of course, the presence of one father, or lack thereof, while sort of meeting the other for the first time (for him at least) was only one in a myriad of factors that were affecting the young nephilim at the moment. She was seventeen, but she had never met her mother until today, when the woman had died giving birth to her infant self. She’d had to introduce herself to her younger father and explain the situation, tell him about her existence, and now she was doing much the same with Dean, who was quite reasonably surprised and freaked out by the whole ordeal.

She actually understood Dean’s reaction, even if she didn’t know exactly how to explain herself. But Dean saved her from trying to awkwardly explain everything all over again by telling her he didn’t blame her. She took in a deep, stabilizing breath and offered him a crooked smile her eyes slanting off to the side slightly as she told him, “I know who Sam is.” Then she looked at Dean, her smile growing slowly, “Yeah, well, if it’s not fatty, greasy and bad for you - or pie - you don’t like it.” The tears weren’t just gone, but she was calming down, starting to find her balance again and more than that, she was trying hard to banish them, never to return. She didn’t cry.

When Castiel hugged her, Sera leaned into it. It was weird but nice, to know that her dad, even his past self, had her back, that he cared and wasn’t just going to leave her when she was upset, even if he were leaving her with Dean. It helped her regain her footing even more, back straighter, head higher, eyes drier. What Castiel said, about meeting her mother and having been a stressful day weren’t wrong, but that didn’t keep Sera from blushing slightly and rolling her eyes, “I’m fine.” Even while he described her, she didn’t argue, but she did turn to glare at her father in the end, “Hey!” but even as she spoke, she nudged him and shot him a smile.